LONDON (Reuters) – British foreign minister James Cleverly and Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris will speak to European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic on Monday, part of “intensive” talks to try find agreement on post-Brexit trade rules with Northern Ireland.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters the talks were part of engagement with Brussels on the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, a process which also involved regular contact with parties in Northern Ireland.
“It’s clear we need to find solutions that protect Northern Ireland’s place in our internal market, safeguard the Good Friday Agreement and resolve the practical issues the protocol is causing,” the spokesperson told reporters.
“But the prime minister has been clear that we have not resolved all of those issues and no deal has been done as yet.”
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Elizabeth Piper. Editing by Andrew MacAskill)
